Search form

ACLU

When Muslims in Bernards Township, N.J., sought to build a mosque, they found themselves subjected to a strange requirement that wasn’t imposed on other houses of worship: They’d have to build a “supersized” parking lot.

Officials in the township insisted that since Muslims gather for prayers on Friday afternoon, everyone who might come to the mosque should have a dedicated parking spot.

A Maine pagan priest won the right to wear goat horns in a state-issued identification card on Dec. 14, months after the Bureau of Motor Vehicles told him to remove them for an ID photo.

After telling the Bureau that he had contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, Phelan Moonsong, 56, received his horns-inclusive ID in the mail within days. The Bureau had previously told him to appeal its decision to Maine’s secretary of state.

Moonsong argued that the horns, which he has been wearing since 2009, are a part of his religious attire.

There’s often a lot of controversy when government bodies display the Ten Commandments. This has been the case in two cities recently.

We’ll start with the good news. In Bloomfield, N.M., the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it is unconstitutional to display a Ten Commandments monument on the Bloomfield’s City Hall lawn since it violates the First Amendment’s ban on “establishment” of religion.

Yesterday, a federal court of appeals released a troubling decision in which the judges ruled, by a vote of 2-1, that a controversial government-prayer practice can continue.

In Rowan County, N.C., (not to be confused with Rowan County, Ky., home of the infamous Kim Davis) members of the county board of commissioners open their meetings by leading the board and the assembled members of the public in prayer.

An anti-gay fundamentalist Christian group successfully infiltrated an Iowa public high school assembly a few months ago – a move that angered some parents.

Last spring, the Todd Becker Foundation (TBF) gave a presentation during the school day to Logan-Magnolia Junior/Senior High School in Logan about the dangers of drinking and driving. That lecture cost the school $1,500, money that school Superintendent Tom Ridder felt was well spent.

In a precedent-setting decision, a New Jersey appellate court ruled in May that the administration of Gov. Chris Christie violated the New Jersey Constitution when it awarded more than $11 million to two religious institutions of higher learning.

Americans United and allied groups have blocked an attempt to reinstitute a voucher plan in Douglas County, Colo.

In June 2015, Americans United and other groups successfully challenged the Douglas County School District’s so-called “Choice Scholarship Pilot Program” when the Colorado Sup­reme Court ruled that the ploy violated the Colorado Constitution because it improperly diverted public funds to private, religious schools.

Word broke late Friday night that Roy Moore, chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, may be on the verge of losing his job – again.

When we last left the Ayatollah of Alabama, he was throwing a hissy-fit over marriage equality. That mean old U.S. Supreme Court had issued a ruling that had the effect of making marriage equality the law in all 50 states. Moore, channeling his inner Jefferson Davis, decided to nullify the decision.